A lawsuit filed in Palm Beach Circuit Court on behalf of a 27-year-old West Palm Beach woman says she suffered paralyzing disability after insecticide rained down upon her at work.

It’s the second lawsuit in a week in Palm Beach County to allege debilitating injury because of pesticide. It is a reminder how dangerous these chemicals can be to humans.

Kimberly Neff of West Palm Beach was a security supervisor at Newport Bay Club in Boca Raton when they were spraying for ants in the attic. Unknown to her, she ended up being sprayed with the poison all during her shift on Sept. 21, 2011.

Contacted at her home home, Neff said she is unable to work. She experienced chemical burning, breathing problems and then weakness in her legs. She ended up in a wheelchair.

“I want to get a part-time job since I’ve been able to use my cane more,” she said. “It’s been a long-road of recovery. It was uncertain for a long period of time if it was going to get better or worse.”

Her lawsuit names Terminix International Corp, the New Bay Club and BASF, the manufacturer of the pesticide. Terminix is also the defendant in a lawsuit alleging a 10-year-old Palm City boy suffered severe brain damage after a termite treatment at his home.

According to the lawsuit filed by attorney A. Jay Plotkin in Jacksonville, Terminix had a duty to protect persons in the zone of foreseeable harm. The Tri-Die in the attic spread as a powder throughout the limited air space of the guardhouse, he said.

A Palm City family is in devastated after a 10-year-old boy suffered severe brain damage from pesticide poisoning after a termite tenting like this one. (Photo courtesy of Creative Commons)

The other pesticide poisoning litigation is a heartbreaking case out of Palm City where the family of 10-year old Peyton McCaughey says the boy suffered brain damage.

He is unable to move or talk.

Peyton became ill on Aug. 16 after a Terminix subcontractor told the family it was safe to go back into the house, which had just been tented for termites. The family said he lost 90 percent of his motor skills, according to CNN.

The parents, Lori and Carl McCaughey, and their 7-year-old were able to recover after fleeing out of their Martin County home when Peyton got so sick.

The boy’s uncle and family spokesperson Ed Gribben said on a fundraising site for his nephew’s treatment:

“Peyton continues his daily regimen of physical, occupational, and speech therapy. He progresses a little each day. Though there are pauses when he wants to speak, he is beginning to verbally communicate with words and short sentences.”

It remains unknown if Peyton will continue to get better.

“Today could be the extent of his recovery. Nobody, not even his doctors, is able to accurately predict how much recovery he may obtain,” Gribben wrote.